We, the American people, are experiencing the worst economic crisis in almost a century – a crisis caused not by a virus, but by clumsy, onerous government-imposed lockdowns on what are offensively called “non-essential” businesses and their “non-essential” jobs. Contrary to what the bureaucrats seem to think, every business is “essential” to the entrepreneur who created and runs the business, and every job is “essential” to the person who holds it – that is, every job is “essential” for providing food, clothing, and shelter for the person who has it, and for his or her family, and every job is “essential” for providing its holder with the dignity, pride, and self-worth that comes with providing for oneself and one’s family.

The economic carnage we have imposed on ourselves is unprecedented: More than thirty million Americans have lost their jobs, and that number grows by the millions every week. It is almost as if the federal government demands ransom (or is it tribute?) from the American people – lost jobs, lost wages, lost dreams, and multiple trillions of dollars in debt that will need to be paid back, all piled on the altar of ensuring that not a single life is lost to COVID-19. Sadly, the DC politicians and bureaucrats who created this carnage have no interest in sharing those burdens. They go on with their lives. In fact, their lives are now made easier than ever – now, in the name of “social distancing,” they can do their jobs sitting at home, never missing a paycheck. They don’t have to put up with the DC Metro (conveniently shut down), and their orders have virtually shuttered Uber and Lyft, so why bother going to an office?

This needs to STOP. If we, the American people, are being forced to give up things that matter to us, then the politicians and the bureaucrats need to give up things that matter to them, too!

Tea Party Patriots Action is calling for every federal employee to take a 20 percent pay cut until the scientists have developed a vaccine for COVID-19. After all, that seems to be the marker the scientists insist that we use – we cannot open schools, or enjoy a ballgame as a spectator in the stands, or go to a movie, or a hundred other things we took for granted, until we develop a vaccine for COVID-19. If that marker is good enough for the general population, it should be good enough for the bureaucrats and their pay.

A 20 percent pay cut amounts to a one percent cut for every million Americans who lost their jobs in April. (Federal government bureaucrats should consider themselves lucky we didn’t wait until June to launch this petition drive – we might have been looking at a 40 percent pay cut.) This pay cut would include all federal employees, including Members of Congress and political appointees in the executive branch. This would be temporary. Once we’ve developed a vaccine, federal salaries would return to their previous levels.

Simply stated: Government action has forced countless businesses to close, leaving over 30 million Americans out of work; consequently, government (meaning the bureaucrats who populate government) must pay a price, and bear a burden, like the one it is imposing on the rest of us, the American people.

Changing federal salaries requires legislation. Therefore, TPP Action is sending a petition to President Trump urging him to announce his support for such legislation, and asking him to work with Congress to pass it.

President Trump is absolutely correct that we need to reopen the economy as quickly as possible, consistent with public safety. Governors in both parties – most notably, Governor Kemp in Georgia and Governor Polis in Colorado – have begun reopening their economies, and their strategy is working. The fact that one is a Republican and one is a Democrat shows that this is not a partisan issue.

Unfortunately, the pace of reopening in many other states is too slow, and federal bureaucrats and politicians are facilitating this slow-walk strategy.

TPP Action recognizes that COVID-19 is a legitimate public health issue. The public clearly needs to be educated about the virus. Knowledge is power. The things is, the more one knows about this virus, the more it becomes clear that a national lockdown of our economy is not just unnecessary, it is cruel. Those who are in high-risk groups (for example, the elderly) need to take precautions in how they conduct their day-to-day lives. For the vast majority of Americans, on the other hand, practicing good hygiene like washing your hands every hour and not touching your face is the best strategy. Staying indoors and unemployed, on the other hand, is neither a logical nor a safe approach.

The federal approach to COVID-19 is consistent with how bureaucrats deal with any “crisis” – curtail individual liberties, penalize the private sector, give bureaucrats more power, increase government spending, put Americans into more debt. Rinse and repeat. That is no longer sustainable. It never was.

If the DC politicians and bureaucrats were forced to live life the same way they now demand that American citizens live theirs, they wouldn’t demand those changes in the first place!

That’s why it’s so important that we enact a 20 percent cut for all federal employees until we have developed a vaccine. That will light a fire under them and get them to rethink their disastrous strategy.

Help us urge President Trump to support this pay cut, and put the pedal to the metal on reopening our economy safely.

Sign the Petition

Read it in its entirety below.

Address (to locate your legislators)

Thank You for Signing the Petition!

If we're going to fight the liberal Left and the media, we’ve got to make our voices louder than the Democrats’.

Join our nationwide network of grassroots supporters, help support the effort, and share this petition with everyone you know.

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The two million grassroots members and supporters of Tea Party Patriots Action appreciate your strong leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no question that you have saved lives by pushing the bureaucracy to act quickly and decisively, including banning travel from China when many politicians, including former Vice President Biden, called it “xenophobic.”

You are absolutely correct in recognizing the importance of reopening our economy as quickly as possible, consistent with public safety.

We are experiencing the worst economic crisis in almost a century – a crisis caused not by a virus, but by clumsy, onerous government-imposed lockdowns on what are called “non-essential” businesses and their “non-essential” jobs. Contrary to what the bureaucrats seem to think, every business is “essential” to the entrepreneur who created and runs the business, and every job is “essential” to the person who holds it – that is, every job is “essential” for providing food, clothing, and shelter for the person who has it, and for his or her family, and every job is “essential” for providing its holder with the dignity, pride, and self-worth that comes with providing for oneself and one’s family.

The economic carnage we have imposed on ourselves is unprecedented: More than thirty million Americans have lost their jobs, and that number grows by the millions every week. It is almost as if the federal government demands ransom (or is it tribute?) from the American people – lost jobs, lost wages, lost dreams, and multiple trillions of dollars in debt that will need to be paid back, all piled on the altar of ensuring that not a single life is lost to COVID-19. Sadly, the DC politicians and bureaucrats who created this carnage have no interest in sharing those burdens. They go on with their lives. In fact, their lives are now made easier than ever – now, in the name of “social distancing,” they can do their jobs sitting at home, never missing a paycheck. They don’t have to put up with the DC Metro (conveniently shut down), and their orders have virtually shuttered Uber and Lyft, so why bother going to an office?

TPP Action believes that If we, the American people, are being forced to give up things that matter to us, then the politicians and the bureaucrats need to give up things that matter to them, too!

Tea Party Patriots Action is calling for every federal employee to take a 20 percent pay cut until the scientists have developed a vaccine for COVID-19. After all, that seems to be the marker the scientists want us to use – we cannot open schools, or enjoy a ballgame as a spectator in the stands, or go to a movie, or a hundred other things we took for granted, until we develop a vaccine for COVID-19. If that marker is good enough for the general population, it should be good enough for the bureaucrats and their pay.

That’s why it’s so important that we enact a 20 percent cut for all federal employees until we have developed a vaccine. That will light a fire under them and get them to rethink their disastrous strategy.

Thank you again for your strong leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to your continued support for smart policies that will revitalize our economy and Keep America Great.